The Tome of the Mad Lich

Within the pages of this ancient and dusty tomb are the blueprints of the mad creations of a powerful Lich.

The pages of the Mad Lich's Tome are many thousands, written on old parchment, in many dialects of necril (the language of the dead), many of which are hundreds of year apart in their age. Though the entries below are well organized and (generally) brief, the information contained within the tomb is anything but. The notes are his personal notes and diagrams, any one of these entries represents likely dozens of pages in notes, not all of which have the correct information. Anyone who reads this tomb and wishes to extract the information has to retrace his steps by reading his notes, and take time to study them to determine the true processes that need to be undertaken; one who is not patient and does not study the tomb long enough before attempting any ritual may fail, sometimes with disastrous results.

The entries here do not always need to be morbid, but do keep in mind a 'Mad Lich' is their author, so the items within this page are things that are useful to such a creature, or are in some way strange, forbidden, or highly magical in nature. The magics here are not to be taken lightly, the process for reading these takes time and if done incorrectly can be dangerous, and even if once does succeed there may be dire consiquences all the same.

Additional Ideas (12)

1. The Stake of Damnation

This pitch black iron stake is as cold as death, when stabbed into the heart of any living creature, it insures they cannot rise from the grave by any means, and reduces their corpses to dust.

Materials

A Living Human

An iron stake covered in rust

The tears of a crocodile

Alchemical silver string and needle

Instructions

Once you procure a living human, restrain them and strip their chest of clothing. The restraints must be tight, as they cannot move during the operation. With simple care and a sharp blade, you can cut open the chest of a man without damaging his internal organs; With care cut a straight path to the heart. Apply the crocodile tears to the iron stake, making sure that no part of its surface is left untouched. With great force you must insert the stake into their heart; If you have applied the tears correctly the subject should remain alive.

Press the stake into their chest until it is buried beneath the skin level, and sow their chest closed using the alchemical silver string and needle. From here make sure the subject cannot move, they will be in great pain and may squirm or rebel against their restraints violently. If they are too violent with their motions the stake may shift in their heart and kill them, so it is of the utmost importance that they remain as still as possible. From here you must wait for the subject to expire from lack of water and food. After they expire, mark the time and wait 6 days and 6 nights; when this time has passed carefully cut the string with scissors, and extract the Stake. If you have been successful, the stake will be black as night and cold as death.

This pair of ordinary looking spectacles gives the wearer the ability to see from the eyes and control the actions of a glass eyed crow

Materials

A living crow

A pair of spectacles

Two fine glass spheres (the size of a crow's eye)

The blood of a cobra

A preserved brain (human preferably) in large glass jar full of water

Instructions

Firstly you must restrain the crow, and make sure that it cannot injure itself. Once it has been restrained reasonably, sedate the crow and remove its eyes, replacing them with the two glass spheres. Once they have been inserted, wrap the crow's head so that the spheres do not fall out. From this point the jar should be opened, and carefully place the crow and spectacles inside, taking care not to damage the brain. As side note, the quality of the brain modifies the distance from which the crow can wander from the spectacles before dropping dead, the more powerful the brain the greater the distance. For most purposes the brain of a human should off a range of 250 miles, while the brain of a dog offers you only 100.

Once you have inserted the spectacles and crow into the jar, place in the jar 9 drops of the cobra blood, no more, no less. Then place the jar in such a place that the light of the sun and moon can reach it. From here the brain will rapidly deteriorate, and should be gone within the course of no more than two weeks. Once the brain is depleted, remove the crow and spectacles from the jar, and place the spectacles upon your nose. Once you have donned them, you should see from the crows eyes, and move the crow with only thought. The crow is a simple creature, so one of high enough intelligence should still be able to function reasonably while commanding the crow.

Able to be placed upon any flat surface, this is a portal to another dimension, hidden to mortal eyes unless the proper incantation is recited. When said incantation is recited, the maw opens up to reveal a massive cavern, with its walls layered with spiked teeth giving in the appearance of a massive maw. At the end of this cavern, safe from the 'jaws' is massive iron chest, containing whatever the creator decided to place there. The maw knows its master, and if those who are not its master enter the maw, it will close its maw, crushing and impaling those who dared enter it.

Materials

A living great white shark

5 pieces of chalk one inch in length

An adamantine chest

A piece of its master

Ten thousand needles

A salt water pool

Blood of a cobra

A strong chain, bolt, and hook,

A seal-able jar able to contain said needles as well as water

5 regular jars

A Living tree with a hollow tree

Instructions

First obtain the needles and place them within the seal-able jar, then fill this jar up with the water, and make sure all of the needles are touched by this water. Extract the blood of the cobra. Drop 17 drops into the water, and remove a part of yourself. The more significant the this part the more significant a connection the master, for our purposes a finger (ring, middle, or pointer) will do. Place the jar in the hollow of a tree, and return to it in a week. As you let this sit, you must obtain a great white shark, when you have done this transport the shark to a pool of salt water. The chain must be bolted to the floor outside of the pool, and the hook placed on its end, be sure to place this hook in the sharks mouth, using bait. With a number of labourers you should pull the shark from its pool. From here you should have obtained the needles from the jar, and 10 minutes at a time (so that the shark does not die from lack of oxygen), place all of the needles in the shark.

Once this laborious task is complete, place the shark back in the pool, and keep it alive for 9 days and 9 nights. At the end of this time, hook the shark once more, and let it die on the surface. When it has expired, open its mouth and wait for a viscous green substance to appear in its mouth, there will be enough of this substance to fill five jars. Place a single piece of chalk in each jar. Over a number of days the chalk will absorb the liquid. With these pieces of chalk you can draw a line upon any surface, making sure to use the entire piece of chalk in this line, the line can be of any length, but the entire piece of chalk must be used on that one line. After the chalk is depleted, the line will glow, and disappear. From here you are done, to open the maw simply approach the line with the desire for the maw to open and it will do so. One should place their valuables in an adamantine chest, as the saliva that the walls excrete can wear down lesser materials over even a short amount of time.

Placed high in a tower is a circle of coral that is submerged in salt water. Etched in the center of this circle on the stone is an incantation in aquan (the language of the sea), and atop this incantation is a sea shell placed in an indent in the stone. Using this magical circle, one can summon storms.

Materials

A room (specifications: Must be in a high tower near the sea the room must have a stone floor there must be an open view port to let in the air, the room cannot be closed off)

Tools to carve into stone

A number of stony corals

Salt water

Something to keep water warm

A shell

A bag of holding

A sifter

Instructions

When you have obtained the room of the proper specifications, carve into this floor a circle of stone, the walls of this circle should be one foot thick, and 13 inches deep. Fill this circle with warm salt water, and obtain a number of stony corals. Place them into the circle, and allow them to construct a coral reef. Be sure to maintain this reef, as it is vital the ecosystem of this circle thrives. Next one should obtain a sea shell, and through regular and known methods fuse it with a bag of holding (simply make sure this bag of holding has a sifter in side of it). Fill this shell with sand, and place it in a carved indent of the shells shape at the top of the middle of the circle. Next carve in the center of this circle an incantation in aquan that reads:

"Oh mighty storm, heed my call, and unleash yourself upon this world, make violent the waters, make death rain from the skies, let the tears of gods soak the flesh of mortals, let all shake from your might, let them bow down, clasp their hands, and sing their songs, and vainly hope that you will pass."

When one wishes to call a storm, simply fill the carved words with sand from the shell, and repeat the incantation until a storm has appeared. Be warned, the sea calls to know master, call upon storms with too much frequency and you may face the sea's wrath.

A mangled mess of body parts stitched together, it walks on a number of arms and legs like some horrifying spider. Its flesh oozes a black liquid and it has surprising strength, which it uses to tear the living asunder.

Firstly when retrieving the mushrooms be sure that they are kept cold, as in heat they will rapidly disintegrate and release their toxins into the air. The scorpion however does not die from these toxins, the scorpion's demeanour merely becomes aggressive, so the first step of this process is to safely expose the scorpions to the fumes of the Dread mushrooms. After this, expose each of the 5 humans to a scorpion, and allow it to sting them; shortly the human will die from the poison. The body must not be allowed to decay, you must take the bodies and sow them together in any shape you desire; when this is complete freeze the body to store them. Next one should make the circle displayed in the diagram with the charred bone powder, and then lace that circle with the iron. Set up the conducting rod above the circle, this is best done from inside a building, simply stick the rod through the roof. Now one must wait for a lightning storm to occur.

On the night of the storm, take the frozen body and place it in the circle, being careful not to disrupt the circle. The sprinkle the body with iron, and wait for a lightning strike to channel through the rod. When this does occur, the body will animate, and a black ooze will drip from its skin -- this ooze is the bane of the living. Any living flesh that it touches will turn black as if bruised, and the victim will experience great pain and weakness in all effected areas. Each time they wake the wounds will only drain the victim of life, unless they are of significant fortitude it will likely kill them in short time.

6. Shield of SandA magical ring controls sand, moving it in the way of attacks that target the caster.

Materials

A high quality golden ring, empowered with protective magic

A tough leather bag filled with one pound of sand

The feathers of a Roc

The brain of an intelligent creature

A green ooze

An adamantine cauldron

A python

Ashes of an oak tree, whose age is at least 150 years

Instructions
Attach the ring to a mouse, and allow the python to consume them both; after 5 hours kill the python and cover it in the ashes of an oak tree. Then allow its body to bath in the sun and moonlight. When the snake has rotted away, retrieve the ring. From here cover the bottom of the cauldron in coals and heat it up to forge temperatures. Once this is done, pour the ooze into the cauldron, then the feathers of the Roc, then the sand, and finally the ring itself. Once this is done a gout of steam that is of a great and scalding heat will erupt from the cauldron, and pour out of the top of it at a surprising rate. When this has passed, and the cauldron is cool, one should find the ring sitting at the bottom of the cauldron, surrounded in sand. Collect the sand in the leather bag, and the ring itself.

They came upon us suddenly, no sound preceding them until the splashing of their feet drew our eyes towards them. The wolf-things neither howled or snarled as they tore into our ranks

Materials

A moonrock

A number* of statues constructed in the pack's exact likeness

A rectangular pillar, with secure chains to restrain persons to it

Four mortals of great strength

Dust of great age

Dragon scales, enough to cover the number* pack statues

A number of bald eagles

A Magma ooze

A large vat

The leaves of a redwood tree

A number* of mounds of Silver

*this number is equal to the number you wish to summon

Instructions

As a forward: this monstrous horde of deadly creatures should not be taken lightly, only summon them if you possess power greater than theirs; as it is all they respect, fail to impress them and you shall find yourself dead.

Find a location that is flat, open to the sky, and has not wind (or you can prevent wind if you have the means to do so), in this location set up the statues, and pillar as the diagram shows (the pillar in the center, with the on top, and the statues in a circle around the pillar and moon rock). Kill the number* of bald eagles and throw them into the vat the magma ooze fills, and then drop in the leaves of a redwood tree. Shortly it will cool and a powerful adhesive will have formed, cover the statues in this, and place the scales ever so carefully upon the statues.

On a night where the sky is clear and the moon is full, attach the mortals to the pillar, lay the circle of dust (a complex pattern crafted in between the circle of statues and the pillar), and finally place the moonrock atop the pillar. As the moonlight fills the moonrock it will glow as the moon does, the dragons scales will reflect this light about the shrine, and all will begin to glow with a great intensity, in minutes the light will be as blinding as the son. At this apex of power the statues cease to be so, with a suddenness the light will fade, and in place of the statues will be the horde, hungry for the great souls of the mortals attached to the pillar.

A belt made of leather with a buckle of whose steel is a sickly green color, gives the wearer the ability to project a false image of themselves in any location of their choosing. It projects the wearer exactly, so magical sensing abilities cannot see past the image, as they will detect magic on the image only if the image's wearer actually has on them magical items.

Materials

A leather belt with a steel buckle

A mirror the size of person

A brand

A hot pit of coals

Alchemical silver

A vat of acid

Instructions

This process does not work on the living (as it is intended for a lich), the process requires one to do things that would kill a normal living person.

remove the leather from the belt buckle, and bathe the buckle in a vat of acid; this acid should be mild enough that it would take many hours to completely dissolve the buckle in the vat. When the buckle has been almost completely burned away, remove it from the vat, and wash the acid off with water; reattach the buckle to the leather.

Begin to heat the brand and bathe the mirror in the alchemical silver; strip your body of all steel items. Approach the mirror with the brand, and press into it; there will be no burning mark made, instead the heat should displace over the entire mirror, until the surface of the mirror bubbles like heated water. When this begins to occur, remove the brand and wait for the bubbling to subside.

At this time you should equip the buckle to your body, and step into the mirror; the mirror will provide resistance, but soon it will begin to coat your body like a strange viscous substance. When you have stepped through the mirror frame you will be completely covered in the substance, it will squeeze and hold tight as a snake. From here you must stand completely still for 6 days and 6 nights; at the end of this time the silver will retreat into the buckle, filling the areas destroyed by the acid, and giving the buckle a sickly green sheen. From here, one must merely concentrate to project the image, and control it like they would themselves.

Often one needs a dramatic escape, when the need arises, this white-ruby adorned ring will often do the trick; when thrown it will explode on contact, freezing everything in a ~10 foot radius of wherever it was thrown.

Materials

2 rings, with room for a gem to be embedded in

2 glass gems, able to fit in their respective rings

Frezian moss (moss that freezes what it touches, found at the tops of snow topped mountains)

2 trolls

Bindings for the trolls

Cutting and surgical tools

100 pounds of Henbane

A Vial of a giant turtle blood

A number of torches

Instructions

This operation must be conducted in an environment of freezing cold; a mountain cave should do for this. Locate two trolls, and bind them heavily (as per the diagram, which roughly shows these trolls being back to back on large mechanical stretchers that are vertical), they are strong creatures with legendary endurance, the use of adamantine for these chains is highly recommended. Prior to the next sequence, be sure to let the glass gem soak in the blood of a turtle by the moonlight for a night.

When you have done this, apply copious amounts of Henbane to each troll, after a time they will have passed into a deep sleep. While they are sleeping, Take care to cut into the bodies, are carefully attach the trolls veins to one another (as per the diagram), their regenerative properties will cause their veins to fuse together, and link the trolls blood carrying systems. During this process do carefully reapply Henbane each half hour, to ensure they are kept asleep.

Once their veins have attached to one another, use cutting tools to open up the trolls chest, being sure to apply some fire to the outer wounds to stunt regeneration. Here you should carefully cut into the lungs of the troll, and place inside of each of the lungs some frezian moss, with the glass gem in the center. When you have done this, cease the application of fire, and the wounds will patch themselves up in short time.

The troll you have not cut into is keeping alive both of them, he is breathing for two; though this will last for a short time, they will both die in a matter of days. From here you must simply wait, being sure to apply henbane whenever they become reckless. When they are getting close the expiring, both will be breathing weakly at this point, and in a last act of desperation will likely breath harder then ever before. If this does not occur, and they die of a whimper, then the trolls found were not strong enough, and lacked the will to live; in this case the ritual has failed. If they indeed attempted to live until their last breath, then you will be successful, as the lungs you previously cut into will have collapsed inward with great force, and will be small as gems. Cut away the flesh from the lungs, and inside you will find a white gem, eternally cold, with a cool mist forever bleeding from its surface.

When dormant it is but a breeze, following its masters commands and lying in wait; when roused it commands the winds and assumes its form: a tornado that appears to be a giant smothered by dust which towers at 30 feet tall, unleashing its fury upon those who its master wishes dead.

Instructions
Grow any plant known for its aphrodisiac properties (the stronger its aphrodisiac properties, the stronger the effect of the potion will be) with the Zomorrod-infused soil. Extract the relevant part of the plant at midnight of a solar eclipse day and grind it to dust (or make it into liquid form if it’s a flower or fruit). Mix in the six drops of blood from the male. Remove six strands of virginal hair from the woman by root and put them into the mix.

Gain the ability to:Vote and add your ideas to submissions.
Upvote and give XP to useful comments.
Work on submissions in private or flag them for assistance.
Earn XP and gain levels that give you more site abilities.
Join a Guild in the forums or complete a Quest and level-up your experience.

Good stuff, intriguing and dark items, often with inhumane costs. The instructions are wonderfully thematic and the items seem like things that could/should exist in most settings.
My only critique is that the rituals themselves lack any element of arcana themselves, and read more as recipes. There are no spells to be cast, no arcane runes to engrave, just a list of how to 'cook up' a magic item, usually with two or three steps where the ingredients suddenly transform inexplicably. This may be intentional, certainly its easier to add that back in then remove it.